The Weeknd has been all over the news for his part in a controversial sex scene from The Idol, which he has now said attained its intended effect.
The singer and actor (real name Abel Tesfaye) co-created the series with Euphoria mastermind Sam Levinson. In early June, the first of its five episodes premiered on HBO. When the second installment of the show went live, the Canadian star immediately came under heavy fire for his acting and dialogue during a sex scene with Lily-Rose Depp.
“Fuckin’ stretch that tiny, little pussy,” he says with no expression as she strips for him in bed. The Idol features Tedros (played by Tesfaye), a cult guru who manipulates Jocelyn (played by Depp), a vulnerable pop star dealing with her mother’s death.
In a new interview with GQ, the “Blinding Lights” singer set the record straight and clarified that the scene in question wasn’t meant to be arousing in the first place.
“There’s nothing sexy about it,” Tesfaye explained. “However you’re feeling watching that scene, whether it’s discomfort, or you feel gross, or you feel embarrassed for the characters. It’s all those emotions adding up to: this guy is in way over his head, this situation is one where he is not supposed to be here.”
He continued: “The sex, it’s so gluttonous. Especially in Episode 2. ‘Gluttony’ is the only word I can think of [to describe it]. [Tedros] can’t believe he’s there. He comes off like such a loser. Those moments are the humanity that you find in a psychopath, the chink in his armor.”
According to Variety, the second episode of the series generated around 800,000 viewers. With that, the viewership of The Idol dropped by 12 percent compared to the pilot. Still, Tesfaye stands by his character and insists that he serves a purpose to the plot, albeit a deplorable one.
“You look at him, and this is a score — Jocelyn might be the biggest score he’s ever had. It’s very obvious,” he said about Tedros. “He’s over-indulging, he walks into this house looking around like, ‘Goddamn, am I way over my head? This can be the biggest job I’ve ever done.’”
He added: “He’s despicable, a psychopath — why sugar coat it? … There’s nothing really mysterious or hypnotizing about him. And we did that on purpose with his look, his outfits, his hair — the guy’s a douchebag. You can tell he cares so much about what he looks like, and he thinks he looks good.
“But then you see these weird moments of him alone — he rehearses, he’s calculated. And he needs to do that, or he has nothing, he’s pathetic. Which is true of a lot of people who are a fish out of water, put into these scenarios.”
Meanwhile, The Weeknd‘s recent bid to become the first Black NHL owner did not come to fruition as the Ottawa Senators will be sold to another group.
According to TMZ, the franchise announced on Tuesday (June 13) it would be opting to take an offer of about $1billion from a bidding group led by Toronto businessman Michael Andlauer.
The Weeknd reportedly joined Toronto billionaires Jeffrey and Michael Kimel of the Harlo Capital Group in their quest for the Sens last month, but they ultimately came up short — as did Snoop Dogg.